Era, cuando no existía el coronavirus, el blog de Fernando Machuca, un aficionado a los deportes, con maestría y doctorado en informática, apasionado por el Big Picture integral de los deportes profesionales y las industrias deportivas como un motor de crecimiento mundial. Ahora este blog es mi trinchera en la guerra contra el coronavirus.
MLS is the second best-represented league in the top 100, trailing only the Premier League.
Seventeen MLS clubs are ranked in the latest edition of the Soccerex Football Finance 100 (FF100), a report compiled by global soccer business outfit Soccerex to evaluate and rank the top 100 soccer clubs across the world according to their finances.
LAFC were rated highest in MLS at No. 18 overall, narrowly ahead of in-city rivals LA Galaxy at No. 22. Reigning MLS Cup champions Seattle Sounders are the third MLS club on the list, at No. 27 overall.
There are 15 different leagues represented in the top 100.
UK clubs make up the biggest portion with 23 - 18 Premier League Clubs and five EFL clubs. Major League Soccer is the next most represented league with 17 clubs – 15 from the United States and two from Canada – followed by LaLiga and Serie who both have 11 clubs and then the Bundesliga which has 10.
Another jam-packed week of MLS action, with every team in the fray (sometimes twice).
Atlanta United
The defending champs have been fantastic the last few weeks — wins over LA, NYCFC, Club America, and Portland. They seem to have fixed a lot of their issues. With that said, I’m holding off for another couple weeks before I trust them.
Columbus Crew SC
One thing Caleb Porter has always been good at coaching is neutralizing the opposing defensive midfielder. Almost every team builds through the defensive midfielder — eliminate that guy, and they don’t have answers. It would be an effective strategy against at least half the teams in the league.
D.C. United
D.C. United are officially on the bubble. Their five-point cushion is measly considering their current form and remaining schedule. We gave Wayne Rooney credit last year for how he galvanized the team; he needs to be that guy again.
LAFC
Matt Doyle has brought up an interesting and valid concern about LAFC a few times: Do you trust Adama Diomande as your starting striker in the Audi 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs?
My answer: Yes. He’s absolutely talented enough. It looks to me like he’s been finding his place in the team’s system. It looks like he’s settled into it more in the last two months.
Major League Soccer almost folded after his first full season as commissioner. On Sunday, Garber will celebrate 20 years in the job, and his league and his vision for it continue to expand.
As he enters his third decade as commissioner, Garber, 61, recently sat down with The New York Times at his getaway in western New Jersey, where he goes fishing to relax. He discussed how M.L.S. found its way off life support and carved out a place for itself in the American sports landscape, and why soccer people still don’t trust N.F.L. men to run their sport.
Even today, you take a lot of heat from soccer purists because you started your career at the N.F.L. Why is that?
Early on, I was shocked at the reaction to me coming in. I know Gary Bettman didn’t play hockey, I know Paul Tagliabue didn’t play football, and I know David Stern didn’t play basketball, and these guys are legendary commissioners.
David Beckham’s signing in 2007 was a major moment in the league’s history, and you have been praised for it. But you also have been criticized for giving him an option to buy a team for only $25 million, since expansion fees have skyrocketed in the years since.
If David Beckham doesn’t come to M.L.S., I don’t think we’d be where we are today.
He came in and was a massive storm of media coverage and it never stopped for the six years he was in the league. There were challenges with him going over to Milan.
David was making a lot of money in Europe, and he and Simon [Fuller, his business agent] wanted to capture some of the growth he was expecting to create through his presence. The deal was, if he played for all five years and we got to 20 teams, he would get the 20th team for $25 million, and he had to do it in five years, and had to build it in a city he picked and build a stadium. I thought the chances were zero. I thought if it happens, great.
In 2014, you announced that he had exercised the rights to form a team in Miami, yet his investment group still has not secured a stadium site. Do you regret cutting that deal? Miami has been very difficult to get a stadium deal done. But I’ve learned in 20 years in the soccer business, it’s really hard. We’re fighting competition from other leagues. After all the trials and tribulations, we’ll forget how difficult it was.
The creation of Soccer United Marketing, at your instigation, ultimately helped save the league. But it does not generate enough money to offset all of the losses that the teams still rack up, correct?
That is accurate. Our owners have been willing to invest to a greater level than revenues because they believe they have to deliver a product on the field to fans who have alternatives so they think about M.L.S. as their league.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber talks Robert Kraft, expansion, transfers & more | Major League Soccer
Don Garber: MLS is a league for a 'new America' | SportsCenter
MLS commissioner Don Garber exclusive interview: On Atlanta United, expansion and more | ESPN FC
Don Garber explains Atlanta United's success and MLS competition with Liga MX | Will Cain Show
David Beckham, Don Garber & Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez | Special Announcement
Don Garber
Don Garber (born October 9, 1957) has served as the Commissioner of Major League Soccer since 1999. Garber is also the CEO of Soccer United Marketing and a member of the United States Soccer Federation board of directors.
Garber has spent his entire career in the sports industry, working in a variety of capacities in marketing, events, television, and league administration prior to becoming MLS commissioner. Before joining MLS, Garber was with the National Football League for 16 years.
Under his leadership, MLS has experienced sustained growth in size and popularity in the United States and Canada. During his tenure, MLS has expanded from 10 to 24 teams and set records for attendance and broadcast revenue.
In addition, the league has seen significant increases in every metric – including team valuations, attendance, sponsorship, and digital and social media engagement. MLS ranks seventh among global soccer leagues in average game attendance.
Garber has been selected by SportsBusiness Journal as one of the sports industry's most powerful executives every year since 2005. In 2018, he was 16th on the list. In 2016, SportsBusiness Journal presented MLS with its award for League of the Year. In May 2019, Garber was named the Sports Business Journal Executive of the Year. Garber has received numerous other industry honors, and in 2011 was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of the top sports commissioners. He has received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from both Montclair State University and the State University of New York. Garber was also inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame at his alma mater, SUNY Oneonta. Garber was elected into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2016, but deferred his enshrinement until 2018.
En el deporte la actualidad deportiva digital tiene varias caras.
Hay una realidad deportiva muy profesional ofrecida por una extraordinaria cantidad de medios, por ejemplo, cadenas de televisión, diarios, revistas especializadas y sitios web especializados.
La inmensa mayoría de estos medios no nacieron digitales, pero si tienen su versión digital al alcance de un clic. Estos medios tienen diferente tipo de cobertura. Algunos intentan cubrir una buena cantidad de deportes, mientras otros se especializan en uno o varios deportes. El alcance del cubrimiento es variado. Pocos pretenden un alcance mundial. Generalmente hay nichos de mercados, con un selecto grupo de deportes y un énfasis en algunos países.
Hay otra realidad deportiva digital, la de las redes sociales (por ejemplo, Twitter (twitter.com), Facebook (www.facebook.com) y sus servicios de WhatsApp (web.whatsapp.com), o su red social Instagram (www.instagram.com)) y los foros de los diferentes medios.
Esta realidad deportiva probablemente tiene mayor cobertura que la de los medios profesionales. Es prácticamente incontrolable y generalmente no validada. Con mucha frecuencia sin soporte de las fuentes que originan el contenido que presentan. Y lo realmente delicado, algunas veces el contenido se disemina con una velocidad excepcional que supera lejos la de cualquier medio profesional.
La realidad deportiva digital profesional puede tener ciertos sesgos. Por ejemplo, es posible que tenga prioridad la cobertura de las estrellas de los deportes de mayor impacto local.
La realidad deportiva digital de los foros de los medios y de las redes sociales es un carnaval de puntos de vista, donde puede encontrarse contenido fundamentado, pero hay que tener un buen filtro para descubrirlo. Generalmente lo que abunda son los sesgos. Y peligrosamente hay sesgos muy obscuros.
En los foros y en las redes sociales se habilitan hermosas oportunidades para compartir. Lamentablemente, desde el anonimato se expresan con cierta frecuencia opiniones con la clara intención de hacer daño. Es muy frecuente encontrar líderes anónimos que dedican un buen porcentaje de tiempo a tratar de imponer puntos de vista que destrozan la buena imagen de algunos deportes, de algunos equipos o de algunos deportistas. Adicionalmente, cuando uno participa en los foros se ve sometido a agresiones de diferentes tipos, por ejemplo, xenófobas, políticas y racistas.
Este análisis es introductorio. Paso a paso lo seguiré complementando en nuevos posts. El deporte es hermoso y ha dado lugar a industrias deportivas excepcionalmente exitosas que voy a describir en profundidad en el futuro cercano.
